Harley-Davidson Sports Glide is Back After 25 Years

A little over 25 years have passed since the Harley-Davidson Sports Glide last appeared in dealerships. Now the iconic model is returning to the lineup, this time as yet another model of the brand new Softail family.

The new 2018 Sports Glide doesn’t look exactly as it did back in 1983 when it was first presented. Back in the day it was billed as a touring Super Glide variant and known as the FXRT. Frame-mounted fairing and hard panniers were his main obvious characteristics.

Over the years the Sports Glide underwent several tweaks and hung on for a decade in dealerships but it got finally discontinued in 1993.

1983 Harley-Davidson Sport Glide

A quarter-century later, the Sports Glide is back, carrying the “FLSB” letter code and offering a greater deal of style versatility than the original model. It comes as a late addition to the heavily announced Softail lineup.

The all-new model is built upon the same chassis as the Slim, uses the same 5 gal. tank and tank-mounted clock. With the recognizable Sports Glide’s fairing and semi-hard panniers out of the picture, the new model reminds of a Slim with a few Breakout touches.